Win8 EOL or Ian Paul off meds?

Ian Paul has an interesting article today basically saying to all of you Win8 users that MS is dumping you after the Tuesday patch from ANY further support. Considering there are about as many Win8 users as Win8.1, I thought that was interesting. I also didn't remember the EOL deadlines being anywhere near now and before Vista. Since there is apparently no way of making comments there, I thought I'd ask rumor control here.

".... The biggest item on the chopping block is Windows 8. Not Windows 8.1—that sweeping update is still supported—but the original, non-Start button version of Windows 8. After Tuesday’s updates, Microsoft will cease support for the 3 year, 2 month, and 17-day old operating system. That means Windows 8 is going the way of Windows XP; no more security updates, no bug fixes, nothing.

Users still on Windows 8 will have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 or make the jump to Windows 10. ..."

Windows 8 10/30/2012 1/9/2018 1/10/2023 1/12/2016 Customers have 24 months to move to Windows 8.1 after General Availability in order to remain supported. See the Windows 8.1 FAQ for more information.

--yes, end of support for the service pack is today. I honestly have no idea what that means. But I am pretty certain it does not mean "no more security updates, no bug fixes, nothing." Since XP's EOL for support for service pack was 8/30/2005, while extended EOL (when security updates and bug fixes ended) was 4/8/2014.

Windows 8.1 falls under the same lifecycle policy as Windows 8, and will reach end of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2018, and end of Extended Support on January 10, 2023. With the General Availability of Windows 8.1, customers on Windows 8 have 2 years, until January 12, 2016, to move to Windows 8.1 in order to remain supported.

Guess it's time to upgrade to 8.1, for whoever hasn't done it, yet. I guess this will be a problem for those users with computers with CPU's that are not 8.1 capable. Probably best to get back to 7, in that case.

I am surprised MS could get away with it without someone filing a class action. I presume the support date deadlines when Win8 was being purchased are the same as for Win8.1 now. Seems like MS changing the terms and conditions. That is breech of contract anywhere.

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I saw this reported yesterday a couple places. Of course, they were basically restating prior reports with headlines like "WINDOWS 8 IS BEING ABANDONED BY MICROSOFT". Of course, what all the articles really mean is that continued patches for Windows 8.0 are being stopped and only 8.1 will be receiving patches after this.

I wonder what this means to people with a Windows 8.0 phone - one of the many early models that will not be upgraded to 8.1 (like the one in my pocket).

I saw this reported yesterday a couple places. Of course, they were basically restating prior reports with headlines like "WINDOWS 8 IS BEING ABANDONED BY MICROSOFT". Of course, what all the articles really mean is that continued patches for Windows 8.0 are being stopped and only 8.1 will be receiving patches after this.

I wonder what this means to people with a Windows 8.0 phone - one of the many early models that will not be upgraded to 8.1 (like the one in my pocket).

Windows Phone is out of this picture. There is no relation between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. The unified operating system base is Windows 10 and not any of the previous versions. As far as I know, all phones with 8.0 can be upgraded to 8.1. Some of the phones that can run 8.1 won't be upgraded to 10, but that is a different, unrelated subject.

I installed Windows 8.0 on my computer soon after it came out. With StartIsBack, my machine ran really well.

I then decided to go with 8.1 when it came out. My ride got a bit bumpy under 8.1, so I decided to go back to 8.0.

So no, I was not "too lazy to take advantage of a free upgrade". And I didn't "refuse the major one".

Well, if you choose not to upgrade, then you can't really complain about lack of support. I may choose not to upgrade to 10, but I realize what the consequences will be. Once I make that choice, I know what I lose and what I gain. As much as it may be annoying that MS does that, I think they have the right to decide which OSes they support, going forward.

There are no cost free options and, truth be told, no one supports their operating systems for as long as Microsoft does. On Windows 8, I think the only reason for complaints come from people whose computers could not be upgraded to 8.1 because MS changed the CPU requirements. Those will be left in a limbo.